8 Tips to Find the Best Local Computer Repair Shop in Your Area

The average American spends over 10 hours a day looking at a screen. This may be a phone, computer, or TV, used for personal interests or work-related needs.

As beneficial as it might be to cut down how often you scroll social media or play video games, when your screen time is due to work, you can’t always afford to shut it down. Such is the case with computers.

Think about how often you send emails, check your team’s progress, and research competitors. If your computer is broken, you need to get it up and running again right away. Otherwise, you risk falling behind at work not to mention missing out on the latest memes and social trends.

Computers are our way of connecting these days. If you need a local computer repair service to keep you in the loop, here are 8 things you can do to find the right one.

1. Talk to Your Friends and Family

You don’t have to go searching all over town to find the service you need. Sometimes, finding a repair center is as easy as calling your friends and family or even trying to troubleshoot it yourself, which you can read more here about.

If you’re not comfortable giving it a go, at least you know you can trust your inner circle. Someone you know is bound to have had computer problems recently. They can point you in the right direction of where to go and who to talk to when your computer needs fixing.

2. Go Online

Recommendations are a good place to start, but they don’t tell the whole story. Be sure to do some follow-up research of your own after talking to your friends and family.

Go online and look up and the company names you were given. If someone mentioned a specific computer service person you should see, check to make sure that individual is still with the company you’ve been referred to.

Also, take a moment to read user reviews and learn a little more about the company. The more reviews you read, the more you can grasp whether your friend’s good experience is the company standard or whether they got lucky with an above-average solution.

Not to mention, you probably don’t want your computer to be one of the first units a company repairs. Businesses that have been around for a long time are usually the better choices than those who have just started out. This rule isn’t black and white, though, so don’t pick a computer repair center solely because they’re the longest-standing service in town.

3. Think About Pricing

Another thing to look for while you’re on each company’s website is pricing. As much as you want to get your computer fixed, you probably don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for it. In such cases, it’s usually better to buy a new one altogether!

Make sure you get the service you need for the price you want.

A few extra minutes of research could end up saving you a couple hundred dollars. It’s all about paying attention to detail and knowing who to trust. Go for the professional team who will charge you reasonably instead of the service who is trying to rip you off.

4. Prioritize Your Time

Sometimes, it is in your best interest to pay more for a computer repair if you need it right away.

This is especially true for professionals who depend on their computer to get work done or college students who have a big assignment due. Such situations are time-sensitive, and the more you wait to repair a computer, the more stressful they become.

The alternative to paying more for a faster repair is to borrow someone else’s or spend more time at the office or the library. However, for some, this messes up work/life balance significantly – like if you’re used to working from home or you have a long commute to your college campus.

These kinds of scenarios require you to look at your computer repair from all angles. You may have to pay more for your repair to be complete, but, it may be worth all the time and stress savings a fast solution offers.

5. Talk to Your Top Choices

Before you drop your computer off at the first service center you see, go into a few places around town and talk to their specialists. Get a feel for how each center operates and ask to talk to the person who will be working on your computer.

This may not seem like a big deal, but it can help you choose between someone who kind of knows what they’re doing versus an expert. Businesses can claim all sorts of things online, and they tend to only display their best reviews.

When you talk to them one-on-one, though, you can gauge just how knowledgeable they are about fixing computers. Plus, sometimes it’s not a matter of experience but rather preference. Some people are more comfortable working with Macs because that’s what they use, while others are better suited to fix your Windows computer.

6. Ask for Details

As you’re making your rounds talking to each repair person, ask them to tell you what’s really going on with your computer. This helps you take better care of it in the future, and it gives you a better idea of who really knows what they’re doing.

The more that a person can simplify a computer issue for you to understand, the better they’re going to be at fixing it. Being able to identify the problem and work on it themselves is one thing, but being able to relay the information clearly is an added sign that you can trust them with your computer.

7. Remember Warranty and Insurance Conditions

Check your computer’s warranty and insurance terms before you drop it off. Most manufacturer’s warranties come with the condition that you can only repair computers through them.

If you have a third-party insurance policy for your computer or some sort of company warranty, you may have to notify someone of your need for repairs before dropping your computer off. This is a quick step to take care of, but it’s one you absolutely have to do.

The last thing you want is to repair your computer where you shouldn’t only to find you lost your protection for it in the process.

8. Consider Sending Your Computer to the Manufacturer

Speaking of warranty and insurance conditions, why not take your computer to the manufacturer in the first place? If you live in an area with an Apple store or a Windows store, this may be your best bet.

Manufacturer services are sure to cover all the bases every time. They are fast, reliable professional solutions for all kinds of computer issues.

Find a Local Computer Repair Center Near You

If you don’t have a local manufacturer’s store, your best bet is to find a local computer repair center that services a handful of brands. Be sure to follow all the steps mentioned above if you want the best solution possible for your computer.